Michael Wu clarifies it as “the use of game attributes to drive game-like player behavior in a non-game context”

The classic example of Gamification in action is the application Foursquare which gives users badges for ‘checking in’ to various places. By rewarding users in a game like way, Foursquare achieves its underlying objective of gathering data on the places you and your friends have been.

Gamification in practice splits into two main types – heavyweight gamification centred around rapid feedback experienced in the environment that is gamified (pop up badges, in-app progress bars and so on) and lightweight gamification that provides players discrete, regular feedback e.g. a weekly report, about their activity and progress in one or more alternative environments.

“Gamification of Work” refers to the application of game mechanics to day-to-day work within a company. A typical example would be to use a reward mechanic. For a sales team this might be a bonus for successful sales contracts, or for a service team it might be an honor: such as ‘employee of the month’.

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Toby is CEO of gamified performance management platform Rise.
He was the 2013 founding chair of Gamfed.com - the International Gamification Confederation and organises the UK Gamifiers meetup.
As a gamification thought leader, he speaks at conferences and hosts workshops. Follow him on twitter @tobyberesford and
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